First Game
- Thread starter Adrock
- Start date
Congrats to your son and good luck to him!
Venue and start time is a good start to be honest, unless you want to know anything else I would leave it at that and not make it too complicated. You could ask if there is a changing room etc..
Always worth a phone call night before just to check if anything has changed/ what pitch are you actually on if there are multiple pitches.
Hope this helps and hope it goes well
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
I suggest you should invite your son to contact the club, rather than you doing it. Checking colours of both teams is worthwhile and ensuring that you have the home manager's mobile number in case of traffic delays.
Hope he enjoys the game.
I'm assuming u18 and therefore contact should be via the parent/Guardian, should it not?
I'm U18, all my contact is done myself, except for appointments of observers, which goes through parents. Never had an issue with anyone as a result of it, just the done thing in my varying leagues.
U16 is done through parent/guardian sometimes. Depends whether you're on a league or not that use some sort of software like RefSec or Pitchside etc
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
The initial contact came from the club manager. As the young referee needs the confidence to talk with the coaches at the game, prior contact (call or e-mail) from the referee would be a good start point, with Dad copied in if e-mailing.
For a first game I always stress the importance of being aware of the administration aspects. Check venue, paperwork and reporting requirements, competition rules (match duration, substitute protocols etc), is extra time and/or penalties a possibility? A competent match secretary should be able to guide you.
Also don't forget the payment protocol - who will pay you, when and how much?
Also don't forget the payment protocol - who will pay you, when and how much?
Generally, no, the referee would know all this information from the competition rules.
I wouldn't always trust the coaches to know, and as they are paying for the service they'll expect the person they are paying to know.
As a rule of thumb, U13 will be 11V11, so offsides in play, and cards if required. Speak to your referee secretary, as they'll be able to confirm
santa sangria
RefChat Addict
Advice… hmm… it’s also your first time as the parent of a referee… there are probably a few things you can take away from how observers handle post-match:
Remember refereeing can be physically/emotionally challenging, all matches are different, varying in extremes.
After the match, keep calm and constructive. An encouraging “how do you feel?” and when you start talking, start with a couple of positives - whatever happens! - and dwell on them long enough (that penalty decision was really hard but you got it; that run you made to see the second goal…)
And try to avoid the football fan trap of getting heated about all the decisions you disagreed with. If there was a biggie, explore it, slowly: that red card, what did you see? What about the players’ reactions? How did you feel about it?
…encouraging some self reflection and remembering a lot of things are “in the opinion of the referee”
This is clear as mud. Some counties insist on parent/guardian at least being copied in. I've asked the FA Referee dept whether it's compulsory and they don't know. They referred the question to 'safeguarding' and I'm still waiting for a definitive answer.
From my county FA, on all emails that involved people (county FA people, managers, mentors, everyone) that an U18 has contact with a parent or guardian has to be copied in (You also learn this in the "Safeguarding Children course", that U18 should never be in a 1on1 conversation or contact with an over 18 who is not their parent or guardian). So then this would presumably include texts (which means that a groupchat should be created).
I don't remember ever seeing that on the safeguarding courses, and I'm a youth coach.
Matchday coaching is going to be quite tricky for U18 refs if you're not allowed a 1v1 conversation.
Wait sorry I think what I was remembering was you cannot have a 1v1 conversation in a place which is not a public place, so you cannot do it in the manager's car or the changing rooms it has to be done on the pitch or place which is non-private(using word in definition, mistake i know).